Interview | Wednesday, 08 August 2007

Transforming US-Maltese relations

Interview with Ambassador Molly Bordonaro on us-maltese relations and how these have developed over the past years

It’s a hot summer evening as I arrive at the gates of Villa Apap Bologna in Attard which happens to be the residence of US Ambassador to Malta, Molly Bordonaro. I am ushered in by the friendly butler who is quite acquainted to me now as I have been fortunate enough to visit this lovely place on a number of occasions. I bump into Matt Bordonaro, the ambassador’s husband who looks the picture of health, freshly tanned and all smiles as he usually is. We exchange a few pleasantries and he leaves to take care of the children. Must be a tough job, being an ambassador’s husband.
After a few minutes of waiting, Ms Bordonaro comes in with her radiant smile and pumping my hand, she immediately invites me to sit down and begin firing away my questions.
I start off with her take of US-Maltese relations since her appointment here and how she’s been doing so far.
“I think that the relationship between Malta and the United States is really strong and deep right now. On a political level, things couldn’t be better especially with meetings between Prime Minister Gonzi and President Bush on one side and also the recent meeting between Foreign Minister Michael Frendo and Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice on the other. This exemplifies shared values, which include the importance of peace and stability in the Middle East and support on a macro-economic level for the regeneration of Africa.
On a commercial level the ties are extremely strong too as I believe there is more American investment than there ever was before. There are almost 2,000 persons directly employed with US firms in Malta and that doesn’t even take into account the numerous franchises like Burger King, McDonalds and Hard Rock café’ where hundreds of other ancillary jobs are created.
Recently, I had the pleasure to visit Hetronic, a high end manufacturing firm which has expanded its operations as well as Methode Electronics which also brought down some of its operations in Scotland to Malta so that’s another hugely positive step”.
Ms. Bordonaro also insists that the Maltese government has worked very closely with the US government on the refugee issue and this has also resulted in a number of refugees being resettled in the United States. What about the new projects which are supported by the US government such as the new embassy, which should generate jobs for the local economy and the new security system at the Freeport?
“Regarding the new embassy complex, that is moving along and we hope to start actually constructing the complex by the beginning of next year. This is part of a worldwide project to modernise our embassies not just for safety reasons but also to make them more effective. When you see our current embassy in Floriana, the setup is clearly not ideal as the building was never intended to be an embassy at all but with the new project, we should hopefully be able to provide a much more effective consular service, for example. The important point with new embassies is the benefit that local construction firms will be used for the project and that will create employment opportunities for the local community apart from the spin-offs provided by such a large undertaking.
One of the areas where we have been pleased to co-operate with the local government is making the Mediterranean a more secure place. We have started with the Freeport where we provided security systems and also provided training for customs officers. In September, we will also be concluding the construction of a large warehouse at the Freeport which will be wholly owned by the Customs Office and which house our latest state of the art container screening system.
We’ve also co-operated in the funding of a state of the art Search and Rescue Centre, which is also providing training for other officials especially coming from African and Middle Eastern countries”.
Are any other further projects in the pipeline?
“In relation to safety and security in the Mediterranean, we are helping Malta to procure a helicopter but there are always opportunities to further training programmes as well and we will definitely continue to be supportive in that area”.
I then came to one of my first thorny questions; what is being done on the VISA waiver issue, which still remains a somewhat thorny subject for Maltese travelling to the US?
“There has been great progress made on this issue by the Maltese government. I’d like to remind you that there was a roadmap with a set of specific criteria for which a VISA waiver could finally be obtained. I’m happy to say that amongst the countries in the roadmap, Malta is probably the farthest advanced and that’s thanks to the efforts of the current government, which has worked hard to make progress. The principal issue is the need for Malta to move to a biometric passport system which is also a Schengen requirement and there also discussions with the Department of Homeland Security so that Malta may eventually comply with all the requirements of the waiver programme”.
But is the timeframe realisable or close to a conclusion?
“As I already said, Malta is probably one of the best positioned countries to participate in the VISA waiver programme as it moves forward. Adding to that, I can confirm that the current administration is very keen to have more European countries participating in the VISA waiver programme with President Bush also personally pushing for this to go forward”.
With regards to the double taxation agreement between the two countries has any progress been made?
“Most significantly, there has been a political commitment on the part of the United States government to move forward on the double taxation agreements. There have been two very fruitful meetings between the Maltese government and the US Treasury Department and as things currently stand all that remains is to iron out certain fine details. As you can imagine, such discussions and negotiations take their time but it looks like things are on track and moving pretty smoothly”.
We then moved on to the Middle East problem and how Malta, which is geographically positioned at the centre of the Mediterranean, can continue to play an active role in mediating the conflict.
“First of all, the United States views the European Union as a strong partner to find a peaceful, two-state solution to the Middle Eastern problem. Certainly, Malta, as an EU country, plays a very important part in reaching an agreement on a two state solution in Palestine. The US also appreciates Malta’s efforts in supporting our two-state policy for the region as well as the condemnation of any terrorist groups in Palestine”.
It was time to wind down the interview a bit so I then asked Ms Bordonaro on how her personal experience of Malta has been so far.
“It’s been an amazing and wonderful experience. The family has absolutely loved Malta and the children have adapted fantastically to our new environment. We constantly have little children around as our kids invite their friends over so the house is really a hive of activity and is what you might call a home. We have also made friends from outside the political circles and the Maltese have truly appreciated our coming here and I’m so thankful for that. I have to confess that I was a bit apprehensive before coming here, especially as a mother but now I have absolutely no qualms about taking the decision to come here especially with my children so happy”.
So would she come back if asked to?
“Absolutely, no questions asked”
Finally I asked for the ambassador’s expectations of the US-Maltese relationship in the years ahead.
“I think our relationship has continued to evolve and has become continually stronger. We will continue to see increased investment in Malta by US companies but this is also happening vice-versa, as there are Maltese companies who are actually interested in buying out some US firms. The trade relationship between the two countries is also extremely high and the political relationship is also growing, so you really have an excellent situation. I would also like to highlight the refugees issue where the US came in with assistance making an exception in this unique humanitarian case and I’m so happy to say that we have already managed to resettle a number of refugees in the United States and are looking to increase those numbers”.
After the formalities ended, we got down to talking US politics, a subject dear to both of us. That’s off the record but it was definitely an interesting and invigorating conversation as we discussed the prospects of candidates on both the Democratic and the Republican camps, as Election 2008 looms closer. As I left the house, it was with a heavy heart as my memories of Villa Apap Bologna are always so pleasant with such an ambassador in residence.